UEFA Sanctions First Clubs Under Financial Fair Play Rules

23 clubs face punitive sanctions by UEFA over breaches of the new Financial Fair Play Rules.

The body which oversees football in Europe has used the mechanism of withholding prize money to enforce their new regulations, designed to stop clubs sinking into debt.

The 23 clubs include teams from 14 countries with some high profile culprits including recent Champions League group stage clubs Rubin Kazan (Russia) and Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon.

Perhaps the biggest name is Atletico Madrid who won last year’s Europa Cup and beat Chelsea to win the European Super Cup in August.

High spending Spanish club Malaga also appear, a huge blow to their wealthy new owner Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani’s ambitions to break up the Barcelona/Real Madrid duopoly.

The withholding is temporary while the situation with each club is more fully investigated.

Payments to other clubs, employees or tax authorities are said to be the main reasons prompting the sanctions.

There are no English clubs on the list but that does not mean the new finacial regime is not rocking the boat in the world’s wealthiest league.

Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan rocked the boat recently when he ‘outed’ Manchester United as the club leading the charge for Financial Fair Play in the EPL.

United have recently seen their financial advantage over the pack challenged by firstly Roman Abramovic’s purchase of Chelsea and more recently, the injection of cash into Manchester City by wealthy Arab owners.

With their ability to purchase top players now contested, Man United have lost their ability to automatically secure the best players.

However, they have the largest crowds and an excellent global marketing machine.

This means that any linking of spending to income would hugely and disproportionately benefit them, and harm City and Chelsea, whose stadia have lower capacities.

Whelan told the BBC that  United suggested the measures should also be adopted in the Premier League at a meeting earlier this summer:

“This proposal has come from Manchester United. I think City haven shaken them up a little bit, but there should be some controls on spending. Some clubs are spending way more than they can afford and get into trouble – look at Portsmouth.”

Another beneficiary would be Arsenal whose decision to abandon their 38,000 capacity Highbury home for a shining new stadium nearby with almost twice the capacity has dramatically increased their game day income.

However, that increased income has been submerged in the wash of hard cash invested in City and Arsenal have been trophyless since their move in 2006.

Although the EPL has escaped in this round of sanctions, it is inevitable that this issue, a pet project of Michel Platini, will eventually land in England.

See Also:

Man City Could Face Champions League Ban – August 2011